This packed two-disc set gathers all the usual suspects and more for a Tipitina’s Foundation project to rebuild Domino’s Ninth Ward neighborhood in New Orleans. A mostly successful hodge-podge of covers and unexpected pairings, it has the odd effect of making the original artist look bad. The most reverential covers — and there are many — by such artists as Neil Young, Tom Petty, B.B. King, and Paul McCartney begin to show a sameness, Domino’s bouncy blues base exposed without the big man’s personality. The less reverential are much more interesting. The artists who can’t be other than themselves — Lucinda Williams, Dr. John, even Norah Jones — are a joy to hear, digging their roots. Toots & the Maytals’ “Let the Four Winds Blow” reinvents ska’s lively groove; Los Lobos find rumba funk in “The Fat Man.” But it’s the studio match-ups that set this disc apart. When Robert Plant pairs up with New Orleans’s own Lil’ Band of Gold to make a slow zydeco two-step out of “It Keeps Rainin,’ ” he revives the melancholy heart of the pop tune. And when Olu Dara and the Natchezsippi Band, featuring Donald Harrison Jr., push “When I See You” slightly off key and off center, they propel Fats’s signature sound into a possible jazz-blues future.

Merle Haggard Merle Haggard has always been a keen observer of American thought and spirit.

The Go Fear not, Nuggets heads: on their new long-player, Jack White’s old bandmates in the Go sound as if they hadn’t heard a note of music made since 1972.

Prometheus’s fire One year younger than Dolly Parton, Iggy is an indestructible trouper whose communion with his audience is vulgar, essential, perennial.

Jeff Murphy From Zion, Illinois, the Shoes were an odd combination of romantics and gearheads, combining classic-model pop songwriting with pristine sonics.

The Raconteurs Jack White’s other band — the White Stripes — may be known for their bass-less, three-drums-and-six-strings set-up. But the truth is, he’s been using all kinds of instrumentation all along.